#or a very soft‚ desaturated red. but a very very specific shade

[keeps-ache]

suddenly whipped back to last year when i got sick and i just had Mooning in my head on repeat for three days straight... what a vibe

[twistmusings]

MOD AZUL LMAO HOW ARE WE FEELING ABOUT TWST GOJO?✨️✨️✨️

LMFAO Iove that you guys have just taken to asking me about every update as they come out because of my low activity due to canon events right now. I genuinely fond out when stuff drops in TWST JPN pretty much as soon as you tell me. /srs

Some card spoilers below the cut!

Honestly, I know you made the comparison to Gojo but I look at him and I see beside from a goth Beatles cover band. 💀 Definitely excited to see what the event entails though! Fun facts about Mod Azul, the first Disney movie I watched as a child WAS Nightmare before Christmas, so this actually has me very excited for obvious reasons. I do love the design, but my man looks like an absolute SHITHEAD - I fully expect this event is going to be meddling. I know people are speculating he may be twisted from the Mayor, because of his pupils, and that wouldn't surprise me at all. To be honest, I almost wonder if he is twisted from the general concept more so than any one character. I see more indicators that he was twisted from Jack than anyone else in his design because it's very skeletal - though I do wonder if Oogie Boogie will be making an appearance in some way.

The new cards look super cool - I feel like the costume and hair designs lean even further into Yana's previous work on Black Butler than pretty much everything we've seen so far! I also think it's pretty cool that the Halloween even is actually using a notably different color palette and style than past Halloween events.

TWST has always had a very saturated color palette, even in the Halloween events, so it's super cool to see them play with the actual color language itself. I've pulled Jade's halloween cards to compare them for you to illustrate the differences:

Particularly in the hair - you can see how Jade's hair has been desaturated and sort of greyed out, which I think is a super cool way of incorporating the Tim Burton style into the game. ALSO

LEONA'S REGULAR CARD IS HANDLED WELL. I'm trying not to get my hopes too high, but even with the desaturate palette so far, he is still able to maintain some depth to his skin while still looking paler to match with the style. Now I am certainly hoping I don't eat crow - I know how things went with the Kings Garb card, but I'm going to hold out hope that we will get a really cool Leona SSR. Aside from the Fairy Gala, we haven't really had a "formal wear" Leona card, and I'm really hoping that the SSR looks good!

To give some clarification what I mean - when you are desaturating a color palette, specifically for darker skin tones, you want to mute the saturation of the color without losing the depth of the color. When we are speaking about skin tones, human skin is made up of a mix of colors - primarily yellows and reds, though we also get some blue as well. When you're working with a dark skin tone. In that sense, you don't want to add grey, you want to neutralize some of the warmth with blue tones and even fully dip into blue tones in shadow, which this artist has done. I have actually color picked this palette and put it against a white background to show what I mean and wow this is a gorgeous color palette!!

It definitely depends on the monitor and the brightness settings, but on the monitor I have calibrated to do illustration on - those colors are Navy Blue, A dark lipstick Mauve, a soft violet, and then some brighter orange brown and yellow brown where the moonlight is hitting. Even in the shadows, those cooler colors (the purples) are warmer shades of those colors that make sense with his skin tone. It's a beautiful palette using a ton of gem tones and cool colors and I'm holding out hope that the groovies keep with this trend, especially considering we have both Leona and Jamil getting much needed SSRs this go around.

So far as other thoughts - in Japan the event has been called "Lost in the book with Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas", which leads me to believe this will be similar to the Stitch event where the boys end up in a book in an entirely alternate world and will likely wake up not knowing what happened. I'm also guessing given the track record with the Halloween events and the fact that Nightmare before Christmas is a musical that we're likely going to get more Twistunes with this Halloween event. I don't know if we're going Masquerade levels with it, but I certainly hope we get to hear Leona and Sebek sing, and we know that Jamil can!

Also this event includes Vil, Leona, AND Malleus, so I fully expect at some point these three are going to beef because you can't put these three drama queens in a room and have them NOT devolve into arguing. I eagerly await that.

Also I don't know if they are keeping any of the Christmas theme of nightmare before Christmas, but if they do I cannot wait for the boys to ILLEGALLY DETAIN SANTA CLAUS.

[cj-doodlez]

"Searching, waiting for something to love again. 'Till then, I'll be wandering through the in-between"

Xerox, the Omnitrix's DNA sample of a Splixson, from the planet Hathor

This is no ordinary Splixson. It's an unique one, to put it at that. His eyes are pure white, looking as if they were scribbled on his face. He remains sporting the whiskers that regular Splixsons have, as well as the 3 horns, alongside the lines going down from the eyes. While still chunky, short and adorable, he's a bit more slim, with legs far less stubby unlike the regular species. Xerox also has long, soft, straight black hair with a fringe to the right, in an emo fashion, with parts of the fringe and a few streaks dyed with an electric pink colour.

Similar to his species, he remains at a rather small stature, no taller than a human child, if not just a very tiny bit taller, but a difference so small you basically cannot tell the difference in height between him, a child, and another of his species. He sports a mostly dark outfit, with a dark grey hoodie, and jeans of a darker shade. His shoes have an interesting palette: a really desaturated, almost grey-ish purple colour, alongside darker cerice soles & toes. Underneath the clothing, there are several sensory orbs/nubs all over his body.

One interesting note about this specific transformation, is that unlike the rest of his brethren at his home planet of Hathor, he appears to have stitches all over him; his face, neck, limbs, etc. and he seems to be more like a living, breathing plushy, given that when he's seen duplicating himself, he rips out his limbs, and there's red dyed toy stuffing within his body, albeit still having organs and such. He sports skin of varying hues of green, as it almost looks like if he's had several skin grafts, which are also connected to the body with the stitches aforementioned. Another peculiar thing to notice about this particular form, is that he doesn't look as vicious or monstrous or aggressive as the rest, nor does he look "mutated" or malformed.

Abilities:

Enhanced Speed

Enhanced Durability

Sharp Teeth

Self Duplication

Conjoined Cloning

Enhanced Reflexes

Enhanced Acrobatics

Enhanced Agility

Underwater Breathing

Clone Dissipation

Regeneration

Weaknesses:

Small Size (Vulnerable to bigger enemies)

Electricity Vulnerability

Immobilised By Ice

Forced Combination

Panuncian Predation

Poor Cold Resistance

Recharge Mode Inhibition (Cannot turn back to human if all clones aren't dissipated or if they're too far away to come back and combine as one)

[spaceshipsandvodka]

The Kharidia Main Hall - pt 2

Let's talk colors.

As not to hide any bit of my process, I admit the colors were picked directly from a screenshot from Russian videogame Pathologic 2.

This action was intended just to limit my colors to a specific area of the color wheel and to use only certain saturations.

I likely could have picked the colors myself, but I was all colors of sick that week, and it would have taken longer. Not to mention, this was an immensely helpful exercise even if I already had the skills.

The setting of Pathologic 2 is very dull and dusty in color, yet warm. These were all traits I knew I wanted to emulate early on in the first iteration of Spaceships and Vodka. The warm beige, dark oranges and olive tones create a sort of calm elegance, but with just a shift of lighting they can grow eerie. The perfect setting for a thrilling mystery.

Backgrounds can make or break a comic so ensuring a sense of harmony was very important to me on this venture. The base lighting was hand picked. A deep, desaturated red for the shadows and a light blue from the opposite end of the color wheel for the highlights. Then a soft yellow overlay over the top to create a gentle golden glow.

As with ALL my art, everything is hand drawn. I use no 3d assets, no auto fill, no AI. It mostly boils down to preference. But as such, all of this was lined and rendered manually. Art deco has many repeating geometric shapes, so ensuring that each corner was carved out against the next via use of light and shadow was important in order to ensure a sense of depth. However it was also incredibly time consuming. There are still many mistakes and imperfections in my art, but at least in that way I can accept that I made it.

As for characters. Each character has a basic "neutral light" color scheme. This is primarily intended for use on the VCR to allow the viewer to have a reference point of visuals.

As each character enters the Kharidia, they will have a color palate swap to something more suitable. These will all be hand picked as Pathologic 2 doesn't seem to have a shade of red vibrant enough to suit Mirium's hair color.

Sample art will be made.

Finished this background that took forever

[yeet-man]

For the ask game In my head I tend not to see my online mutuals as physical fig..ures... I'm not sure how to phrase this. Umm here

If I interpret the writing as a specific emotion I will see a brighter or darker shade of color I've paired with said mutual with at that time. So for you it's shades blues and reds.

General and happy tones tend to be sky blue to pastels. Passionate takes tend to be bright reds with bits of soft pinks that flow up (I think Hatsume has a bit to do with the pinks). Sad tends to be a very desaturated blue, almost a grey, with swirls of dark blue mixed in. So on and so forth

But!! I can also see facial expressions depending on the tone or whats being said as well. But instead of seeing the same face it's usually of characters I know or think you like. Sometimes they only fade in during a sentence or word and sometimes they actually the whole thing. Which character I see depends on whether or not they'd actually say or do whatever it is your saying.

So like passionate, I usually see Hatsume. Any quips or sarcastic comments tends to be Urameshi. Happy has quite a few characters that have popped up, like Naruto, Botan, Kirishima, etc.

I think that about wraps it up. It's really hard to explain but I think thats the best detail I can give.

Huh, that's definitely interesting. I believe I've heard of that before, dunno if it's from an old friend or the internet though.

I find it funny you say Yusuke for the quips and sarcastic comments cause I've maybe seen half of Yu Yu Hakusho 😂 and I got a friend that loves Yusuke so he tends to act like the character at times

It's also embarrassing to have bits of soft pink show up in passionate takes cause that's definitely cause of Hatsume which just points out how much I simp for her and it's funny cause I didn't like her when I first saw MHA ahsksbddb

[vylequinnewriting]

Writing Question Tag Game

Tagged by @sleepyowlwrites. Hello, your nickname is now Nowl. Short for Hypnowl. I love portmanteaus.

rules: you answer a question, make one up, and then ask four or so people.

Question: what colors are your characters’ thoughts, usually? do the events of the story change the colors? is the color neon or desaturated or pastel or stock crayon brightness?

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This is somehow the perfect question for me. I read it initially as more of a thought exercise but I’m a nerd about worldbuilding and colors so it’s actually pretty literal in my universe. Incoming long post, so here’s who I’ll tag and the question while the post’ll be under the cut.

Question (for others): If you had to change the events of one specific major plot point, what would it be, why, and what effect would it change in your story?

Tagging: @magic-is-something-we-create, @goblingraveyard, @akindofmagictoo, @theramwrites and anyone else that’d like to participate.

So for context, magic in Telvan is split up into different domains that represent reasoning and intent behind actions. Its also color-coded. Hieromancy is a branch of magic in Telvan that essentially ties you to a domain and gives you a power based on your psyche, with the mechanics being reasoned through said domains. As such, most of their thoughts can be seen with a singular color. Your respective color shimmers and shifts as you yourself change, with more magically oriented people being more saturated than others often. You can always tell someone’s domain by their eye color, which’ll always match their domain if they’re a Hieromancer. Most characters I’m writing about at this time are Hieromancers, but let’s look at the Making a Killing cast specifically.

Shiloh falls under Motivation, which is represented by the color silver. This domain’s name is pretty straight forward and is about anything that motivates you, be it fear, security, or anything that gives you a reason. Like a lot of the cast, Shiloh represents a negative aspect, in this case vengeance. Her color is extremely sharp, focused and never wavers. It’s evocative of the shine of metal.

Canel isn’t a Hieromancer but does fall under the Exchange domain, which is blue. This one’s about anything with a tradeoff, such as a transaction. For Canel, it specifically means personal sacrifices for others. Valiant goals but also lofty ideals, Canel’s blue is very soft and pastel, like blue cotton candy.

Schro’s about Change, which is signified by red. Change represents unpredictability and fits Schro to a T. Always revealing a new side to himself, Schro’s red is sometimes a deep ruby or a murky burgundy.

Syxion’s domain is Creation, otherwise known as the color orange. It’s stubborn and stalwart as its the reason the earth still holds shape. For Syxion it means a new form and the strength to keep it up its appearance. His color’s the same shade as his scales, a dim rusty orange.

Frank’s a zombie, which always fall under the green Gift domain. It represents anything that can be given and that includes life, actual gifts, and diseases. As a result of whatever happened to him in his past lives Frank’s green is extremely bright. He likes to be a bit fancy and prefers calling it chartreuse instead of bright green like the others do.

Bonus: Paze Duhl, as the creator of the magical contract, falls under the Order Domain. A goldish yellow that never fades, his color demands attention. 

[illegiblewords]

Explanation of design approach and some personality info under the cut.

Essentially, the way I’ve been approaching this I wanted to make each world feel like a self-contained and cohesive team. Nivienne is actually from Lamia and so isn’t designed to mesh with the others, but I use her a lot and have a design strategy for her so she’s included. For team Famfrit as a whole, I wanted to make sure that each personality and design would feel distinct and that the main color for each character would stand out. Most are also pretty obvious lol--black mage is black, red made is red, white mage is white. Areas I went different are gold dragoon (or aurum dragoon if we’re being fancy), purple scholar, green bard, orange ninja, blue warrior.

CENRIC ASHER

My main and a hyur midlander black mage. With him I wanted to push against the concept that hyurs are inherently vanilla or “boring”. Imo there is nothing wrong with designs that look like they could occur in nature, but with him I wanted to do an edgy personal spin in the classic Final Fantasy black mage look where the character is a dark silhouette with glowing eyes, a high collar, and a broad hat. Sometimes he wears other things too but the overall concept ties to that particular look. In personality Cenric is a pretty angsty guy due to having been a con artist who got a lot of people killed with medical fraud. He lies a lot out of fear of the reaction he’d get if his background was known. Possibly a little nuts, thinks he is the son of Nald’Thal and bound to spread death and destruction wherever he goes--striking enemies and allies alike, regardless of his own wishes. Probably actually just has Duskwight heritage. Has pretty hardcore imposter syndrome about being Warrior of Light, but in partial response to having been destitute and outcast for a long time he tries to play into the persona of a powerful, luxurious, mysterious black mage brimming with forbidden knowledge. In reality he is intimidated by most children, can’t whistle, and is a bit of a smartass when he’s not panicking his way through conversations.

J’MOR TIA

My red mage alt, I wanted to do a few experiments with him! One was that Red Mages usually read very sophisticated and swashbuckle-y to me, and I wanted to play more into the rapier as an almost roguish weapon. Very physical. He’s somebody who you initially would not assume is a magic user but who is just as versed and capable on that front as the ivory tower casters haha. I also wanted to make him a combination of ethnically black (contrasting Cenric who is ethnically Arab but weird) and a male miqo’te because I have never seen that combination before. I wanted him to feel very charming and like he has kind of rugged good looks. Just a bit too scruffy for pretty boy. Personality he is probably the most shonen hero of my alts lol. He has stuff he struggles with (he and his sister both wanted to be adventurers but she opted out after taking things way too far in a fight and getting scared of her own power) but doesn’t get stuck in his head nearly as much as some other characters do.

CESAIRE DELAROUX

I futzed with this guy for a while—main inspiration comes from a particular kind of horse called the Akhal-teke.

Also because I have seen some really cool and pretty elezen that specifically worked to play up gold as a color scheme, and in this case I wanted to evoke a kind of warm, soft golden light. Originally I was going to make him a contrast to Cenric and make him much paler, but I wound up going that route more with Asklona instead with drawing loose inspiration from certain forms of albinism. I went more gold to make sure Cesaire would stand out visually from Asklona. Another reason for this route is because I want to make a character who looks very light and pure, but in practice has hardcore bloodlust. XD Wanted one case for playing into that possible WoL element haha. I also thought it might be neat to make a character who could serve as a kind of foil to Zenos in many ways and might credibly say yes when invited to be besties. Cesaire is still a mostly heroic guy but I figure he’s a bit like Dexter if that makes sense.

KIYO SHIROGANE

An auri white mage from Hingashi! To me it felt a little odd that the Ruby Princess of Sui-no-Sato has more of a magenta color scheme than red. I wanted to tie Kiyo to Kugane specifically in part because I think the parallels between geomancy and white magic (land, sea, sky) are super cool imo, there are a fair number or Raen au ra in Kugane with less lore exploration, and I wanted to make a character whose past trailed behind her in a clear and interesting way while she travels. So for Kiyo I kind of took inspiration from the idea of a red pearl (pearls often being white as per the horns and scales but then she has vivid red hair) and from the idea of blood tied to injury and medicine. Plus ya know, white magic. I also took light inspiration from candles conceptually. I totally forgot that Shirogane is the housing district also lol so now she has backstory lore that her family had been heavily involved in establishing the area. Kiyo comes from a large and noble family with a ton of political and economic influence, being herself somewhat sheltered and naïve. She is very sincere, playful, outgoing, and does her best to be kind. Very animated!

OSK YASKARET

For Osk, I was essentially going (ʘ_ʘ;;) because I knew that I hadn’t used ANY brown hair so far and it was making so uncomfortable lol. So I thought about what combination would be appropriate, distinct, and striking enough to fit within the cast while also being distinct. Gray and brown feel like chinchilla colors to me and I think are nice in a way that wouldn’t be out of place with rabbits/viera. I wanted dark eyes since again, I hadn’t yet for this group... so dark purple wound up being her main color. Since I was going scholar, I also wanted to keep the sense of intellect and feeling like a healer without being mistakable for astrologian or white mage. I still want to build into her look, but another aspect I wanted to incorporate--saw a lot of people arguing about the inherent sensuality of Viera, so I figured for her I wanted to make her look elegant and sophisticated but more conservative in glamours. I didn’t want her to instantly read like she hopped out of the woods either. Figure she’d have had time to adapt since.

I’m still very much debating backstory and personality or her but am leaning toward her being the offspring of a viera who left the woods while pregnant. I like the idea of Osk wanting to connect with her heritage but feeling somewhat adrift. I also want to incorporate Nym lore because omg I want more Nym in-general. Personality I do think Osk is probably a little bit of a smug bunny but things remain super tenuous.

ASKLONA WANNEYNWYN

Asklona I literally wanted to make a super soft feeling, hyper feminine lady roegadyn because most interpretations I’ve seen have been either harder feminine or tomboyish. Still fun imo, but given the grief some fans heap on femroes I really wanted to show that this kind of look is doable. I usually try to incorporate the black noses on Hellsguard designs (tiger roooooes) while with Seawolves I tend to push either fully into something natural or fully into something unnatural. So ex. the most desaturated option or else just run with blues and greens. Asklona is specifically a bard because it is pretty and fancy imo and I haven’t seen a lot of roegadyn bards in-general. Asklona I mentioned before is modeled off of certain kinds of albinism, but by that I want to make the disclaimer that pink eyes don’t generally occur in people (pale blue or violet is more likely) and that normally there are some eyesight problems that come with the condition as well as ease of getting sunburn. I don’t necessary play into that with Asklona/am going artistic license because I mean final fantasy we can lift swords bigger than we are. I know these things get overlooked a lot though so it seemed worth specifying. My choice to go this route was because I wanted to make myself use more pastels lol and I figured this would be a fun spot to contrast Cenric. I think in backstory Asklona’s father lost his mind to a siren, and Asklona pursuing adventuring as a bard is partly to take revenge and partly in the hopes that she can call her father back with song. Her involvement becomes more complicated over time but I think that’s the general direction. I picked green for her color scheme because it’s a color that feels like it evokes both the woods of Gridania and the sea itself... and because pink is a shade of red and with green being complementary, I figured it would make the pinks stand out a lot. Asklona is tied to Limsa Lominsa and besides looking for outfits that will flatter her body type I am trying to evoke the ocean in her designs. Pirates, sailors, the works. Personality I am still figuring out a bit but I think Asklona is definitely a shameless flirt, can read as insensitive and self-centered at times as she indulges in what makes her happy. She plays herself off as much more shallow than she is and in-general focuses on pursuing pleasure as a way of avoiding heavier issues.

KOKONO KONO

The scrappy daughter of a Doman fox auspice and a Thavnairian lalafell, Kokono saw her mother waste away with homesickness after fleeing the Garlean occupation. She has two brothers, one who returned to Doma while the other remains in Thavnair witht her father. Kokono hates the idea of loving a place so much you would die over it and decided to travel Hydaelyn, causing mischief while indulging a deep-rooted curiosity and love for discovering new places. Has severe commitment issues. Can be prone to swearing and being insensitive because the shocked reactions amuse her a lot, but her heart is ultimately in the right place. I designed her literally to make a lalafell fox because with the dark nose option + werewolf ears it is SO EASY to make tiny canines and I don’t understand why more people don’t do this. Like I could make an elegant white fox lalafell or a yorkshire terrier lalafell or any number of things. We can have itty bitty dogs! And like Kiyo I wanted some background to be evident in her clothes too. I designed her before I picked her backstory and mainly went for rule-of-cute/what would most evoke the red coat of a fox.

SVATOMIR AZORYA

Last of team Famfrit, he’s a Warrior Hrothgar. Very conceptually rough, I’m interested in playing him much more reserved and traditionally masculine in a lot of ways. I think a character in that vein will help balance out against the other Warriors of Light I made for that world. Design goal here was to make him look as wolf-like as possible haha. I think we have plenty of cat people already with Miqo’te.

NIVIENNE LECLAIR

From Lamia, I’ve talked a bit about her before so copypasting that in.

Basically, when I decided to try doing the whole WoL/Emet-Selch fic writing misadventure it was just a personal challenge for funsies. I’d seen other people do some really interesting and impressive stuff using unnamed lady WoLs. Hadn’t really tried something like that myself so I decided to go full improv with it.

Except my instincts tend toward specificity lol, so I scattered details according to what would make for fun scenarios or cute details. I wanted the lady to be a certain level of tall so I went with elezen. I needed to describe a readily portable weapon that would mesh with that sweet, sweet Amaurotine lore, so I made her a summoner. So on and so forth. Very seat-of-the-pants.

Particularly since the fic I have coming up is gonna be bigger, I’m thinking name is okay now lol.

Cenric as my black mage main is a dark, broody guy who doesn’t quite realize he’s nicer and sillier that he gives himself credit. So I decided Nivienne should be much more socially adept (read: not a lameass poser), very mischievous, confident… but lowkey has some heavy shit going on. Girl can be ruthlessly manipulative. Other WoLs of mine have different personalities.

As I was going through fic stuff, I decided I wanted to visually tie to and contrast with Emet-Selch since shipping. He’s got gold eyes and accents on his regalia? She’ll go silver, but her skin will have a more golden tone. He’s got dark hair with a white streak? She’ll have light gray hair, tie into the ruff of his coat. So on and so forth.

Name-wise, I actually fucked up initially by going too on-the-nose. Nivienne is another (more elezen-French) name for Nimue. Given how that story goes I figured it would be fitting here.

As a couple of other notes--color scheme being gray was experimenting to try for a different-but-distinct summoner aesthetic. I wanted to play up horns/third eye concepts (not strictly in the Garlean sense) and create a vibe that wouldn’t feel like white mage, or red mage, or black mage, etc. I also saw people arguing that female casters all end up looking like magical girls, so I wanted to really make sure that she had a different look from that while still being very feminine.

[artwitchpath]

Color Magic 101: The Anatomy of Color

Welcome to lesson one in this series I’m creating for beginner Art Witches!

We have all seen and heard about color correspondences. Red = Anger/Passion Yellow = Happiness etc. but the truth is that there’s much more to color than just it’s name. The psychological effects of color, and therefore the magic we can do with it, are much more heavily influenced by those other components. So let’s take a look at the three components to color: Hue, Value, and Saturation.

Hue

Put simply Hues are the categories of color. They are the general name we refer to a color by. Sky blue and Midnight blue are very different colors but they both fall under the Hue Blue.

In the vast majority of magical practices this is as far as the study of color goes. There are many lists of correspondences associated with each Hue which include planets, days of the week, deities, etc.  

Begin a color journal- Start by listing Hues and what your personal associations are to each one. Does the color purple scare you? Does yellow calm you down? This information will be the basis of your color spellwork.

Value

Value refers to how light or dark a color is. It’s typically broken down in a 1-10 scale; the lighter range (called High Key colors) are referred to as Tints whereas the darker (Low Key) colors are called Shades. When creating art and visual spells there should be a full range of values throughout the piece. (unless specifically done otherwise for a purpose). When you want to draw attention to a particular area you can do that by creating high contrast there (very light values next to very dark values).

“Wood Nymph” -Lumi

As you can see the image on the left, which has a full range of values (1-10), is far more eye-catching than the image on the right which has only the top 4 or so high key values. By putting the darkest black next to the lightest white in the eye area it creates an attention grabbing contrast and directs the viewer's eye.   ....Last but not least...

Saturation/Chroma

This term is probably the most misused/misunderstood property of color. It refers to the intensity of the color. This is the range between pure color (most intense/vivid) and grey (no color, only value). This does NOT affect the value only the color.

The left image is very saturated, the colors are vivid and recognizable. The version on the right is very desaturated, almost completely colorless, but the values haven’t changed only the intensity of the color.

We have powerful emotional responses to these variations which, once we understand how to use them, can help us craft powerful spells.

Homework-

Color Journal- Grab some paper and a pen (doesn’t have to be fancy) and start critically analyzing your associations to color. What do you associate each hue with in general? Are there specific variations of that color that stand out to you? Which ones are more negative/positive? which ones do you feel most connected to? We’ll be getting into the science of favorite colors in the next lesson but for now get a baseline for your personal connection to color.

Create a Value Range- Just like the graphic here, get used to mixing your medium of choice into 10 separate values. You’ll gain more control with your medium and a better eye for full value ranges. You can use paint, ink, pastels, pencil, crayon, whatever you like to work with but keep it strictly to values, no color just yet. Record your experiences in your journal.

Saturation Survey- Find or make a series of images that are saturated and desaturated. What did you feel while making/finding them? What emotional impact does the color intensity have on you? Does a desaturated image look ghostly and creepy or soft and comforting? Do the vivid colors of a saturated image make you feel excited and amped or anxious and overwhelmed? Record your findings in your journal.

I hope you have a good understanding of the anatomy of color now. Try to incorporate some of the terminology we used when referring to color in your daily life to get used to categorizing them for later use. Maybe you want to use that high key desaturated yellow from the sunrise you saw in a spell for new beginnings and fresh starts! The next lesson will be exploring the science behind your favorite color so stay tuned.

Let me know if there’s a topic you want to learn more about, how your color study is going, or if you are a fellow art witch (or are considering this path) and found this useful.

Stay Creative Witches!

-Lumi

[mindofchonsin-blog]

Yen’fay and Art

Hello, everyone! It’s been quite a while since I’ve made one of these, but I figured now was as good a time as any! Ever since Yen’fay painted Inigo that picture he gave him for his birthday, I’ve been planning to make a big meta post detailing his gradual descent into the art world and why he decided to take up the brush in the first place. As you can guess, things get kinda looooooong, so join us under the cut for that sweet, sweet headcanonony goodness.

First off, I thought I’d get into Yeff’s past a bit, because, although it might seem like a small thing, it’s important to realize that Yen’fay was never trained or “supposed” to become an artist in the first place. This had a lot to do with the responsibilities Yen’fay was expected to shoulder once his father retired. He had to become a king, a diplomat, and a soldier all rolled into one. I personally headcanon that pre-Walhart Valm had 50+ different countries, all with different customs, history, and rituals. Chon’sin was just one in a sea of many, and he needed to know all of their customs by heart to avoid offending anyone and carelessly sparking a dispute. Not only that, but he needed to learn to govern, to fight, and to lead troops in order to defend the borders of Chon’sin in case the unthinkable happened. 

It’s for these reasons that Yeff’s life outside of studies and training drills was pretty dull. Even his “recreational activities” were just things he needed to learn anyway disguised as fun. He’d spar with family to put practical application to what he learned in his drills and would learn how to dance because it was expected at social events like galas and the like. The closest he ever came to learning anything related to art was calligraphy -- mostly because it was what he’d give all his formal missives in as king. No wonder he went wild once he got a taste of freedom at Roxanne.

If this all sounds a little... stifling to you? Don’t worry. Yen’fay may have had his life dominated by rules and structure, but he never felt unhappy about the direction his life was headed. Sure, he had a bit of minor rebellion in his youth, but that’s natural. At a certain point, it was just the way life was for him. He didn’t really see much use in questioning it, and luckily enough, he learned well in a classroom-like setting and enjoyed most of what he was being taught at least to some degree, so there was no real feeling that this wasn’t a lifestyle that suited him. He just didn’t have a lot of room to explore purely recreational activities like his sister did because there was just no time. 

Of course, this was how things were when he was supposed to be raised as the ruler of Chon’sin. Now his sister fills that role, and he has no interest in trying to reclaim his place. He’s a much different person now than who he was raised to be. But even though he sometimes helps Say’ri with courtly duties (from behind the shadows, of course - he doesn’t want word getting out about his apparent resurrection), he’s still left with a lot of free time and a sort of feeling of... emptiness. What exactly is there even left to do once you’ve spent your entire life preparing for some momentous task, only to find out that you’re no longer fit to serve? 

To help sooth his restless mind, he turned his attention to the arts. Specifically to painting, which is something he’s come to really enjoy as of late. Most would assume that, since this is Yen’fay we’re talking about, that he would have a very bold an precise art style, much like 17th century Japanese paintings, with thin, but clearly defined lines, eye popping colors, and dynamic imagery. But I had something much different in mind.

In the short thread I had with Inigo, I likened Yeff’s art style to the likes of Claude Monet, and I definitely think that’s the closest comparison to what I envision in my mind. Yeff’s art style is characterized by watercolors utilized in an almost foggy, impressionist style dominated by lots of small brush strokes, unconventional blending techniques, and splashes of color used only really as a way of drawing in the eye amidst a field of desaturated earth tones. Most of the time the subjects of his paintings are outdoor landscapes and other naturalistic settings, as most if not all of his attempts at drawing people turn out... warped and a little unsettling. 

Perhaps it would be thought of as a little out of character for Yeff, who is usually so rigorous and strict during every social interaction, to have an art style that so loose and experimental. But try to see things from Yen’fay’s perspective, and I think you’d understand. After a life that’s been positively smothering with rules and how you’re SUPPOSED to do things and all of that nonsense, he’d finally have the freedom to make whatever he wanted without any kind of rules dictating what he should or shouldn’t do. The only thing that mattered was if he made something he (or the person he was gifting the art to, if there is one) is happy with. That’s it! It would be absolutely invigorating for him.

As I said, his paintings are characterized by soft gentle brush strokes, a fuzzy, almost dreamlike quality to them, and a pallet dominated with desaturated earth tones, deep blues, and maybe hints of pink and gold when he’s feeling particularly daring. Well, that is to say, most of his paintings are like that. What he’s willing to show to other people, anyways.

Yen’fay has two very different art styles for very different types of moods. The first is the stuff I’ve talked about already. What you could describe as “Showroom Art”. It’s pretty and it’s detailed, despite the almost foggy like quality it has to it. These are the type of works he would share with his friends and family and perhaps even put on display. The second type is stuff you could only describe as “Vent Art” which is, of course, very, very different.

If his showroom art can be described as having an ethereal, dream like beauty, his vent art is characterized with raw, nightmarish ugliness. It’s hard to overstate just how different the two styles are.

For one, the fuzzy quality is gone with these. Instead of many, tiny short brush strokes, he uses long, aggressive strokes with clearly defined borders, though there are still no lines. Secondly, there are almost no relaxing or soothing earth tones and cool blues in these works. Yen’fay primarily uses colors that terrify him and invoke strong feelings of fear and dread. Most notably a vivid, scarlet red and a choking, jet black. Sometimes he also uses a withered brown and a starkly unnatural, vivid shade of purple. 

Thirdly, whereas the focus of his pretty art might be kind of hard to understand amidst the blurry quality, the subject matter of his vent art is almost frightfully cryptic. Most of the time you wouldn’t even know what you were looking at unless you took several steps back. It makes sense, though, because he’s literally painting snapshots of his nightmares from having to wander in Grima’s ruined future.

It’s kind of hard to really describe what I’m talking about, so, for the sake of science, I decided to create some mock-ups of how some of these artistic visions might look. I have to admit that I don’t see myself as a very adept artist, like at all, and all I had at my disposal was Windows 10 Paint and my dinky little mouse pad, so this is uhhhh. Probably going to really suck compared to all the talent we have in the group right now. But, I mean, it’s vent art, so it’s not really supposed to look great, I don’t think, haha. Everything I did was using the Watercolor brush, and I added titles to the things so maybe you guys would have a chance at understanding wtf you’re even looking at, even though I’m fairly certain Yen’fay would never title these works.

Obviously, these types of works are pretty unsettling and would raise some uncomfortable questions for those that saw them. I feel like a lot of people would destroy these as soon as they were made -- at least someone with Yeff’s mindset of “I can’t let anyone ever know there’s something wrong with me or else I’m a weak fool and no one will ever want to rely on me again”. Destroying them would be the logical thing to do, but, unfortunately for Yeff, he’s not as logical as he seems to think he is.

He keeps all of them. Every vent art he’s ever made is still out there, and yes, he has tons. What must be dozens by now. I feel like he would keep them locked in a closet where no one could hopefully find them. He doesn’t want to destroy them, though, because he’s hoping that by putting these nightmares of his on canvas, he’ll eventually be able to rid himself of them. He doesn’t want to destroy any of the works, because then it would go back into his mind to torment him more... or something. IDK, he doesn’t really think about it consciously, but he’d be very distressed at the notion that he should get rid of any of them. Almost as distressed as he’d be to ever have to explain them to anyone who came across them.

I think that just about sums things up. If you actually read to the end of all this bullshit, thanks a fucking ton. You have no idea how much it means to me! This is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but I wanted to be able to give it the proper depth I felt it needed. So thank you again for listening! 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. For now, though, I’m going to rest my poor aching wrist, haha. See you soon!

[jodybouchard9]

Afraid of Orange? Not-So-Scary Ways to Use This Hue in Your Home

With Halloween approaching, having orange decor at home may seem like a terrifying prospect. Indeed, interior designers and paint pros warn clients that when it comes to this color, caution is a must.

“Orange sparks controversy and strong reactions,” notes Rebekah Clark, owner of Decorating Dens Interiors at Clark Team Designs. Generally, you either love it or hate it.

“Orange is one persnickety color, because it goes from burnt umber to caution cone very fast,” points out Justin Riordan of Spade and Archer Design Agency.

This is a shade best suited for an extroverted homeowner, as it exudes enthusiasm, excitement, and warmth, adds Clark.

And if you’re a fan, orange is currently having a moment.

“Rust and Hermès orange are definitely trending—shoppers on our site adore it in velvet and mohair upholstery, lacquer furniture, and decorative pillows,” adds Anna Brockway, co-founder of Chairish.

For most homeowners, baby steps are recommended. To help, here are nine ways to work this unusual shade in your home.

1. Orange up your door

Photo by BiLDEN 

Spice up an otherwise drab front door with bright orange, recommends Riordan, who likes a high-gloss version of Benjamin Moore’s Topaz.

“You’re adding interest, creating a focal point, and improving your curb appeal—all at once,” he says.

2. Enliven a half-bath

Photo by Jagoe Homes Inc. 

Color pops work well in small spaces, including a hallway, wet bar, or half-bath.

Riordan used Sherwin-Williams’ Obstinate Orange in a small guest bathroom recently.

“This deep, multidimensional color receded into the background while the white porcelain fixtures became the visual superstars,” he says.

3. Accent a wall with orange

Photo by blackStones 

Draw the eye toward and make a statement with an orange wall, especially if the idea is to use the color with intensity, offers Clark.

“Otherwise, apply it in small increments, such as painted on the backs of bookcase bays, as accent chairs, lamps, or other accessories,” she adds.

4. Mute the intensity

Photo by Elad Gonen

If you’re daring enough to give over a whole room to orange, consider picking a muted shade, suggests Liz Toombs, president of PDR Interiors.

“If the color is too bright or bold, it could easily overwhelm your space,” she warns.

Karen Gray-Plaisted of Design Solutions KGP likes a desaturated tint of orange.

“A soft peach kitchen would look lovely if the color of the cabinets, counters, and flooring all support this shade,” Gray-Plaisted says.

5. Create a moody study

Photo by Mia Karlsson Interior Design 

Orange pairs nicely with earth tones such as brown and beige, making it a prime candidate for a man cave or study, according to Gray-Plaisted.

“Try a dark orange tone here, such as Cavern Clay from Sherwin-Williams,” she says.

6. Make coming home fun

Photo by Pinneo Construction 

Orange, like red, is an energetic color that inspires playfulness, notes Toombs. Paint this shade in your entryway, mud room, or even laundry room, which may make sorting and folding a bit less like drudgery.

7. Give it to the kids

Photo by Alan Design Studio 

Who better to live with orange than your wild child? Use this punchy, exciting shade on a room for rambunctious kids, whether boys or girls.

When Riordan was going through the adoption process and didn’t know if a boy or girl was coming, he painted the nursery walls orange.

“We decided to toss out pink and blue and go with Charlotte’s Locks from Farrow & Ball, which was the perfect partner to our mahogany crib—and our son,” he says.

8. Avoid odd color pairings

Photo by Brookfield Residential YYC

Frankly, unless you’re specifically striving for a Halloween look, avoid pairing orange and black, says Jamie Novak, author of “Keep This Toss That.”

“And pink clashes with orange—it’s a definite ‘don’t,'” she adds. Also, steer clear of terra cotta at all costs, especially if you want to sell.

“I’ve heard that homes with this shade in the living room sell for less than their expected value,” she explains.

9. Mix and match

Photo by CHRISTOPHER LEE FOTO 

Blue is the complementary color to orange—but stay within the same saturation when you mix the two, say the pros.

“You can accomplish this by choosing an orange and a blue that are in the same section of the paint chart in stores,” says Toombs.

Orange and aqua are fabulous together, says Novak. “If you already have these tones in your room, enhance them with a dash of orange in a pillow or table runner,” she says.

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